Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-02-09


Jhurch. John Bright deluded Quaker,
Henry Wilson, the Vice.Presideut of the
Uaited States. dying deluded Methodist
'r Congregationalist. Earl of Kintore dy-
ng deluded Presbyterian. The canni-
'als in South Sea- the Bushmen of Terri
lei Fuego, the wild men of Australia. put
ing down the knives of their cruelty, and
clothing themselves in decent apparel-all
iuder the power of this delusion. Judsop
nd Doty aud Abeel and Campbell and Will
liams, and the three Thousand missionaries
| ii the Cross, turning tseir backs on home
| md civilization and comfort, and going eu'
mid the squalor of heathenism to relieve
t, to save it, to help it, toiling until they
lropped into their graves, dying with ne
arlhly comfort about them, and going into
raves with no appropriate epitaph, when
hey might have lived in this country, and
we'd for themselves, and lived luxuriously,
Ind been at last put into brilliant sepulchre
What delusion!
Yea, this delusion of Christian religion
shows itself in the fact that it goes to those
.ho are in trouble. Now, it is bad enough
20 cheat man when he is we'll, and when
le is prosperous; but this religion comes to
man when he is sick, and says: ''Y GU
will be we'll again after a while; you are
.nd no pleuIisies and no consumptions and
40 laDguishngs; take courage and bear up. )"
Yea, this awful chimera of the Gospel
| comes to the poor aud it says to them: ''Y ou
Ire on your way to vast estates and to div
denis always declarable." This delusion
Of Christianity comes to the beref5, and it
alks of reunion before the throne and of
| the cessation of all sorrow. And then to
show that this delusion will stop at abso-
| utely nothing, it goes to the. dying bed
and fills the man with anticipations. How
| much better it would be to have him die
without any more hope than swine and rats
and snakes. That is ALL Nothing more
| left of him. He will never know anything
again Shovel him under! The soul is on
| ly superior part of the body, and when
the body disintegrates the soul disinte-
| crates. Annihilation, vacancy, everlasting
blank, oblIteration. Why not present all
hat beautiful doctrine to the dying, in
stead of coming with this hoax, this swim
| die of the Christian religion, and filling the
dying man with auticipations of another
| life, until some in the last hour have clapped
their hands, and some have shouted, and
some have sung, and some have been so
overwrought with joy they could only look
ecstatic. Palace gates opening they
thought; diamonded coronets flashing,
hands beckoning, orchestras sounding.
Little children dying, actually believing
they saw their departed parents, so that,
although the little children had been so
weak and feeble and sick for weeks they
could not turn on their dying pillow, at the
last, in paroXysm of rapture uncontrolla-
BILE, they sprang to their feot and shouted:
| sMother, catch me, am comingr'
And tO show the immnnSjtV Of this da1u-
sion, this awful swindle of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, open a hospital and bring
into that hospital the death-beds of great
many Christian people, and I take you by
the hand this morning, and I walk up and
down the wards Of that hospital, and ask
few questions. I ask: "Dyiug Stephen,
what have you to say?" ''Lord Jesus, re-
ceiye my spirit" "Dying John Wesley.
what have you to say?" ''The best of all
is, God is with us.'' Dying Edward Pay.
son, what have you to say?" 81 float in
sea of glory dying John Bradford,
what have you to say?" eff there be any
way of going to heaven on horseback, or in
a fiery chariot, it is this' ''Dying Mean.
del, what have you to say?" I am going
to sleep now-good- night" "Dying Mrs.
Florence Foster, what have you to say?"
ga pilgrim in the valley, but the noun
tain-tops are all agleam from peak to peak"
dying Alexander Mather. what have you
to say?' ''Ths Lord who has taken care
of me fifty years, will not cast me off now;
glory be to God and to the Lamb! Amen,
amen, amen, amenv' "Dying John Pow
son, after preaching the Gospel SO many
years, what have you to say?" "My death
bed is bed of roses" 'Dying DR.. Thns
Scott, what have you to say?'' ''This is
- ~ L.
war, what have you to say?'' ssBoys 1 am
operator OF the battlefield of Virginia. what
have you to say?'' "The wires are all laid,
and the poles are put from Stony Point to
headquarters ''Dying Paul, what have
you to say?" 81 am now ready to be offer
ed, and the time of my departure is at hand;
| have fought the good fight, have finish
ed my course, l have kept the faith. o,
death, where is thy sting? o, grave, where
is they victory? Thanks be unto God who
giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ" 0, my Lord, my God,
what a delusion, what a glorious delusion!
Submerge me with it, fill my eyes and ears
with it, put it under my dying head for a
pillow-this delusion-spread it over me
for canopy, put it underneath me for an
outspread wing, roll it over me in ocean
surges ten thousand fathoms deep! o, if
infidelity, and if atheism, and if anuihlla-
tion are reality. and the Christian relig-
ion is delusien, give me the delusion!
The strong conclusion of every man aud
woman in the house is that Christianity
producing such grand results cannot be
delusion. A lie, cheat, swindle, an hal
Inclination cannot launch such glory of
the centuries. Your logic and your COM
mou sense convince you that a bad cause
cannot produce an illustrious result; out of
the womb of such monster no such angel
can be born. There are many in this house
this morning, in the galleries and On the
main floor, who began with thinking that
the Christian religion was stupid farce,
who have come to the conclusion that it is
reality. Why are you here to-day? Why
did you sing this song? Why did you bow
your head In the opening prayer? Why
did you bring your family with you? Why,
when tell yon of the ending of all trials
in the bosom of God, do there stand tears
in your eyes-not tears of grief, but tears
of Joy, such as stand in the eyes of home
sick children far away at school when some
one talks to them about going home? Why
is it that you can be so calmly submissive
to the death of your loved one about whose
departure you once were SO angry and so
rebellious? There is something the matter
with you. All your friends have found
out there is a great change. And if some
of you would give your experience you
would give it in scholarly style, and Others
giving your experience would give it in
broken style, but enc experience would be
Just as good as the other. Some of you
have read everything. You are scientific
and you are scholarly, and yet if ! should
ask you, 'fWhat is the most sensible thing
you ever did?" you would say, "The most
sensible thing I ever did was to give my
heart to God"
But there may be others here who have
not had early advantages, and if they were
asked to give their experience, they might
rise and give such testimony as the man
gave in prayer meeting when he said:
son my way here tonight met man who
asked me where 1 was going. I said, n
am going to prayer meeting He said,
There are good many religions, and
think the most of them are delusions; as to
the Christian religion, that is only a notion,
| that is mere notion, the Christian reli-